Abysmal Timing
by Kythe42
Summary: Jo makes a confession as Henry lies dying in her arms.
1. Chapter 1 - Bleeding Out

Jo makes a confession as Henry lies dying in her arms.

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Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. I'm merely borrowing them for my own amusement.

Warnings: Blood &amp; Gore, Temporary Character Death

Author's Notes: This story was inspired by jo-martinez over on Tumblr.

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Jo wasn't sure how she had gotten here on the ground holding Henry in her arms as he bled to death. She remembered chasing a suspect into the alley with Henry and she and the suspect had fired simultaneously at each other. The man she shot was dead and Henry with his lack of a self-preservation instinct had dived in front of her to take the bullet for her. After that it was a bit of a blur and the next thing she knew she was sitting on the ground supporting him in her lap with one arm as she tried to stop the bleeding from the gunshot wound in his side with her other hand. Had she called an ambulance? She couldn't quite remember, but she had a vague recollection of him telling her not to, that the wound was too severe and that they couldn't do anything to help him. She felt as if she had gone into some sort of shock. There were tears streaming down her face but she couldn't remember starting to cry. She just knew that she couldn't bear to lose him. He wasn't just her partner, he had become her best friend, and she was pretty sure that she had started to feel more for him than that despite trying to keep things professional.

"It'll be alright Jo," Henry said in a weak voice, the attempted smile on his face marred by a grimace of pain. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. Please don't cry."

Jo couldn't help but laugh sadly. Of course he would try to reassure and comfort her when he was the one bleeding to death from a painful gunshot wound. "Yes you'll be ok... just hang in there... stay with me," she murmured words she didn't really believe as she held him closer to her and started rocking him gently. Henry reached up with one hand and tenderly brushed away the tears from her face but he soon gave up as more kept falling from her eyes.

"Jo do me a favor please?" Henry asked softly.

"Of course Henry, anything," she answered.

"Please take my watch and keep it safe for me," he practically begged.

"Henry I... I can't take that from you," she protested knowing how valuable his antique pocket watch was. "I mean, wouldn't you want Abe to have it?"

Henry nodded not having the strength right now physically or emotionally to explain to her that his death wouldn't be permanent and that he didn't want his watch to disappear when the rest of him did. "You can give it to him. Just please take it from me. Put it in your pocket and keep it safe. I don't want it to get lost."

"Ok Henry, I promise I won't let anything happen to it." She removed the watch from his pocket and unclipped it from his waistcoat and then transferred it to her own pocket. He noticeably relaxed against her, and she stroked his hair as she held him trying to soothe him as best she could. She wasn't sure how long she stayed with him like that, but at some point he closed his eyes. She felt for a pulse and it was still there but growing weak. "Henry are you still with me?" He gave a small affirmative grunt and nodded slightly, but didn't say anything or open his eyes. Jo knew it wouldn't be long before he was gone and before she quite knew what she was doing she found herself confessing feelings to him that she had only just fully realized minutes ago. "Henry I... you know you're more than just a partner to me. You're my best friend, and I think I've started to feel more for you than that. I think I may have even started to fall in love with you. I'm so sorry that it took me this long to realize it, but I had to tell you before you..." she trailed off and bit her lip, then pressed the lightest of kisses against his lips to say goodbye.

Henry's eyes shot open in surprise and he looked up at Jo. Had he heard her correctly, had she actually kissed him, or was this some sort of hallucination caused by the massive blood loss? It was bad enough that Jo was going to witness his death and he'd have to either come clean about his immortality or pack up and move again, but this confession of hers, assuming it wasn't a hallucination, was going to complicate matters further. He wasn't quite sure how he felt about her declaration of love, but he knew that he did care for her as a close friend and perhaps if he allowed himself to be open to the possibility, in time he could come to love her back. He would have to consider this more later, he didn't have much time. "Your timing is truly abysmal Detective. We will have to discuss this later," he choked out with his dying breath.

"Henry! Henry!" Jo cried out as his eyes dropped closed again. This time there was no pulse and he wasn't breathing. She hugged him tightly to her and started sobbing uncontrollably into his chest, then after a few moments she stopped startled when she could no longer feel him in her arms. She opened her eyes and her mouth dropped open when she saw that his body had disappeared. She took a few minutes trying to process what had happened and think of a rational explanation but her mind was drawing blanks. Yet he must have known this was going to happen. Why else would he have been so insistent that she hold onto his watch for him? Was he some kind of weird species of alien that just vanished when they died? These were crazy thoughts and she was starting to wonder if she had dreamt the whole thing, but the dead suspect was still there lying several feet away and Henry's watch was still in her pocket and she had his blood all over her. Then she remembered that he said they'd talk later right before he died. She had thought he'd been in denial up until the very end, but was it possible that he wasn't actually dead, but just somewhere else?

She wanted nothing more than to get in her car and drive to the antiques shop to try to get some answers, but she knew she had to stay here until the crime scene was processed. She got her phone out and called Reece and reported what had happened leaving out the details of Henry's injury and death and said that they had gotten separated and she didn't know where he was, which was at least partially true, and that Lucas would have to do the autopsy. After she got off the phone she sat down leaning against the wall of one of the buildings lining the alley with her head in her hands. While she waited for the others to arrive she replayed the events over and over in her mind. As she started to cry again she prayed that Henry was out there somewhere safe, but she wasn't going to get her hopes up. Maybe at the very least Abe would be able to shed some light on what had happened and she'd definitely speak to him as soon as possible.

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I cried so much while writing this story. I promise I will continue this, but I just need to take a break and lie down and cry some more for awhile.

While I was writing this I kept picturing the song Bleeding Out by Imagine Dragons and the Forever fanvideo I made for it. If you'd like to see the video, search YouTube for "Forever Bleeding Out".


	2. Chapter 2 - Shock and Despair

Jo has a breakdown after witnessing Henry's death and disappearance and is admitted to the hospital to be treated for shock.

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Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. I'm merely borrowing them for my own amusement.

Warnings: Blood &amp; Gore, Temporary Character Death

Spoilers: Spoilers for Season 1 episodes 1, 7, and 8.

Author's Notes: This story was inspired by jo-martinez over on Tumblr.

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Henry got himself back to the police station as soon as he could after having Abe pick him up by the river and making a quick stop at home to shower and change into some clean clothing. He didn't see Jo anywhere around the squad room but Lieutenant Reece was there. She spotted him and frowned waving him over, and as he approached her he felt once again like he was being called in to see the headmaster at school.

"Dr. Morgan I need to have a word with you in my office please," Joanna said her frown deepening.

Henry followed the Lieutenant to her office and she shut the door behind them and took a seat behind her desk motioning for Henry to take the seat in front of the desk. "Where's Jo?" he asked after taking a seat. "We got separated whilst chasing the suspect."

Joanna nodded. "Yes that's what she said. She's at the hospital right now."

Henry's mouth dropped open in surprise. "She what... how... what happened?"

"She was involved in a shootout with the suspect. She's fine physically and the suspect is dead, but she's in shock," Joanna answered her mouth set in a fine line. "She only managed to hold it together long enough to give her statement, and then she fell apart. As you know, this is not her first shooting, but the more this happens the more it can take a toll on you."

Henry nodded in dismay knowing that Jo's breakdown was his fault and not as a result of the shooting itself. "Yes I'm well aware of the cumulative effects of repeated trauma."

"You need to go see her."

"I'm not sure that's the best idea," said Henry shaking his head. "She needs rest."

"You don't understand Dr. Morgan. Detective Martinez seems to be under the delusion that you took a bullet for her and that you're dead," Joanna explained. "No one could convince her otherwise despite the fact that your body wasn't anywhere to be found at the crime scene. She needs to see with her own eyes that you're alive and well."

Henry put his head in his hands feeling guilt consume him. He could have prevented this. She needn't have been traumatized by his death if only he'd had the courage to trust her and tell her the truth about his immortality. He knew he needed to tell her the truth now to save her sanity. "Yes of course. Under the circumstances I should get down to the hospital as soon as possible. This is all my fault."

"Henry, you can't blame yourself for this. Just because Jo's imagination managed to create a scenario where you died saving her life doesn't mean you were the one that caused her to have a breakdown," Joanna said gently. "It's not unreasonable that her mind would go there since you have saved her life in the past. She would have died from aconite poisoning on the very first case you worked together if you hadn't acted quickly."

Henry nodded. "It's not just that," he answered thinking of another reason that would justify Jo's supposed hallucination. "It wasn't in the report, but she froze up before she shot Ryan Morris. He was going to kill her, so I approached him trying to get him to shoot me instead. It was only after she saw that my life was in danger that instinct took over and she fired her weapon."

"Oh Henry, you know it's not your job to protect her, especially not in situations like that. Not unless you want to go through training and obtain a permit to carry a weapon."

"Yes I realize it's not in my job description, but it is in my nature," he answered smiling slightly to himself at the irony that he'd already been through basic combat training multiple times from the wars he'd been in. Even army doctors had to complete basic training.

Joanna just shook her head. They really didn't make men like him anymore. She wasn't going to forbid him to do anything like that again because she knew he wouldn't listen, but she sincerely hoped that he wouldn't end up getting himself killed over an act of foolish chivalry. "Well your protective nature would be put to better use right now down at the hospital."

"Yes I'll call a cab."

"No need, I'll drive you there myself."

"That's really not necessary Lieutenant. I'm sure you have a lot of work to do."

"I'm never too busy to take care of the officers under my command," Joanna insisted. "I'll just stay a short time, and then let you visit with her."

Henry nodded. "Very well. Perhaps I should call Abe. She's grown rather fond of him and it might help if he was there. If she really believes that strongly that I'm dead, even seeing me might not convince her."

"Alright you can use my phone. Detective Martinez can use all the support she can get right now."

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Abe arrived at the hospital only moments after Henry and Reece did. "You two stay in the waiting room," Joanna instructed Henry and Abe. "I'll go in first and you can see her when I'm done."

Henry and Abe took seats in the uncomfortable waiting room chairs as the Lieutenant walked off towards Jo's room. "So what exactly happened to Jo?" Abe asked. Henry hadn't given him any details on the phone other than the fact that Jo was in the hospital and that he wanted him there.

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you on the phone with Lieutenant Reece standing right next to me," Henry answered and then continued in more hushed tones. "She saw me die Abe. She actually held me in her arms as I bled out from the gunshot wound. I believe my death and subsequent disappearance has left her in severe shock and everyone else believes that she was hallucinating. That is why the Lieutenant needed to announce my arrival, because she believes me to be dead." He left out the part about Jo's confession of love. He was not in the mood for the playful teasing he was sure would result from sharing that detail.

"This is not good at all," Abe replied with a grim look on his face. He could see the agony of guilt on his father's face and placed a reassuring hand on his arm. "You know you're going to have to tell her the truth now. We can't just pack up and leave. You owe it to her. It wouldn't be right to let her forever question her sanity."

"Yes I know. I am going to tell her the truth. I just haven't decided if I will do it here at the hospital or wait until she is released. I will need to assess her mental state first," Henry explained. "My first priority is just to reassure her that I am alive and well so she will be able to heal from the guilt and grief of me dying to save her life."

Abe nodded. "Well I'm here if you need me to go in with you."

"I know Abe," Henry said squeezing his son's hand with a weak smile. "That was why I asked you to come, just in case she doesn't believe I'm alive even after seeing me. I will go in alone first, but I will come get you if I need you."

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Jo looked up as she saw her boss enter her hospital room but didn't offer a greeting and turned her head to gaze out the window. She really didn't feel like talking. She wasn't sure if she'd ever feel like talking again.

Joanna took a seat in the chair next to Jo's bed. "How are you holding up Detective?"

Jo opened her mouth but then closed it again. She had too many emotions all swimming around in her head, grief, guilt, shock, confusion, and she found herself too overwhelmed to form words. Before she could even attempt to stop them she felt more tears forming in her eyes and rolling down her cheeks.

Joanna sighed and took Jo's hand in hers. "I know you still don't believe that Dr. Morgan is alive, but I promise you that he's alive and well."

Jo shook her head and tried to pull her hand out of her boss's, but her grip was too tight and she didn't have the strength to fight it. "No, no he can't be. He died in my arms. That stupid reckless man died saving my life."

"What happened to his body then?" Joanna asked gently.

"I don't know, I can't explain it, but his blood was all over me."

"Jo, that was the suspect's blood."

"Did you have it tested?"

Joanna sighed again. "No and I'm not going to. I'm not going to waste city resources when there's no one else's blood it could possibly have been."

"What about his watch?" Jo asked holding up the pocket watch that she was clutching tightly in her other hand. "How did I get it then?"

"It wouldn't be the first time that Dr. Morgan has lost that watch," Joanna pointed out. "You probably found it on the ground and picked it up. Really he should keep something that valuable at home if he can't learn to take better care of it."

Jo frowned and bit her lip. Her boss seemed to have a rational explanation for everything and she was starting to wonder if she really had hallucinated the whole thing.

"Dr. Morgan is sitting out in the waiting room right now. I'm going to send him in to see you and you can give him his watch back. I hope you get well soon. You're an excellent detective and you will be missed," Joanna said squeezing Jo's hand once more before getting up and leaving the room.

Jo blinked several times as she watched her boss leave feeling unable to comprehend what she had just said. Despite all of the rational arguments, she still couldn't really believe that he was still alive. It had all seemed way too real to have been a hallucination. She stared at the ceiling tiles as she ran her hands over the pocket watch, the weight of it in her hands the only thing she was really sure of right now.

Henry cautiously entered Jo's hospital room and closed the door behind him frowning at the sight before his eyes. Jo was lying in the hospital bed with the back slightly elevated wearing a hospital gown with a blanket covering her up to her waist. She had a vacant hollow look on her face with eyes that were red and puffy from crying and her cheeks were tear-stained. She was clutching his watch in her hands tightly as if it was the only thing that was anchoring her to reality. He sat in the chair by her bed and just looked at her sadly for a few moments before speaking. "Hello Jo. How are you feeling?"

"Go away, you're not real, you died," Jo answered in a soft voice without even looking at him.

"It was only a flesh wound," he answered with a slight grin.

Jo finally turned her head and stared at him. Under other circumstances she might have laughed, especially since she was almost positive that he had no idea who Monty Python was, but right now she was having a hard time finding it funny. She wasn't sure if this was his way of trying to tell her that she hadn't imagined what had happened, or if he was just trying to poke fun at the situation. He certainly looked real enough, but he had definitely looked and felt real when he had died in her arms.

"I think you'll find that with me, dying and being real are not mutually exclusive conditions," he said with a more sad smile this time. "Look I'll leave if you really want me to, but know that I'll come back tomorrow and the next day and the next until you are well enough to leave this place." When he still received no response he started to get up to leave.

"No, don't go. I'd rather have you here as a ghost than not at all," Jo said and bit her lip to stop herself from crying again.

"I assure you I am no ghost," Henry said sitting back down in the chair. He reached out and tried to take one of her hands off of the watch so he could hold it so she could feel that he was real, but she flinched away from him and tightened her grip on the watch.

"No, I have to keep it safe, I promised." Jo remembered that she had become quite belligerent when the nurses had tried to take the watch away from her. Eventually they agreed to let her hold onto it, but they had insisted on giving her a mild sedative.

"Yes and you've done a wonderful job looking after my watch for me, but I'm here now, you can return it to me." He only got a nervous doubtful look from Jo in response. "Alright, why don't you look after it for me for a while longer? I only wanted to touch you so that you'd see that I'm real." Henry shook his head slightly. Jo was in worse shape than he had anticipated and he wasn't sure if she'd be able to handle learning the truth about him today.

Jo took a few moments to think about his words before she responded. "Can I... can I hug you?" she asked shyly as she sat up in bed.

Normally Henry would have been uncomfortable with such an embrace from anyone but Abe, but he had died in her arms earlier that day which was much more intimate than a mere hug. "Of course Jo." He moved to sit beside her on the bed and put his arms around her gently. She threw her arms tightly around him and started shaking as she held on to him for dear life and began sobbing into his shoulder. "Shhh shhh, it's alright. I'm here now alive and well and everything will be fine," he said trying to comfort her as best he could and rubbed her back as she cried.

"I just don't understand what happened," Jo said sniffling and wiping the tears from her face with one hand while she kept one arm wrapped around Henry. "You took a bullet for me and died in my arms. Then you disappeared and you show up back here alive and uninjured. They all said that I must have been hallucinating, but you feel just as real to me now as you did before."

"No Jo, you're not insane. It did happen, all of it, but you won't be able to leave here unless you tell the doctors that after seeing me you realized that it was all a figment of your imagination and that you've come to your senses. Do you understand?"

Jo nodded. "I understand that I need to lie, but I still don't understand what happened."

Henry took a deep breath before speaking. "Today is not the first time that I've died Jo. It's happened more times than I'd care to count, and every time I die my body disappears and I reappear elsewhere. That is why I had to take the bullet for you, because no matter what happens, I will survive. I'm so sorry that I didn't tell you about this before. If you had known what to expect then it would have been much less traumatic for you. I hope that given what you said to me before I died, you'll be inclined to forgive me."

Jo felt her face flushing. "Oh yeah, about that..." she trailed off unsure exactly what she wanted to say. She had gone from feeling amazed at Henry's confession to feeling completely embarrassed at his mention of her own confession.

"You didn't mean it did you? It was only something you said because you thought you'd never see me again wasn't it?"

Jo sighed. "Yes and no. I did mean it, but it took losing you to realize how I really felt about you. Look can you just pretend that part didn't happen? I know you're not interested in me that way."

Henry shook his head and squeezed her hand. "No I can't pretend that it didn't happen. I do care about you Jo, quite a lot in fact. While it's true that I've never thought about you in any romantic capacity, it's not that I'm not interested in you specifically, it's just that I haven't let myself feel that way about anyone in a long time. It's very difficult for me to get close to people for obvious reasons. Even the amount I've let myself care for you in friendship is much more than I've allowed myself in quite some time."

Jo nodded. "Yeah I guess that's understandable," she said feeling a stab of disappointment.

"I do think I would like to spend more time with you though, especially after what happened today. Perhaps if you're patient with me, in time my feelings could grow to match your own," Henry said offering her a nervous smile.

Jo perked up a bit and smiled back at the thought that it wasn't a lost cause after all. "Yes I think I'd like that, to spend more time with you that is. I've got so many questions that I want to ask you about what you told me and about what happened today."

Henry nodded. "Yes I'll tell you everything once you've been released from the hospital, but you have to promise never to tell another soul. Well you can talk to Abe about it, he's the only other person that knows, but no one else."

"Of course I wouldn't tell anyone Henry, you can trust me," Jo promised him. "Besides, if I ever tried to, I'd probably wind up right back here."

To that Henry only nodded sadly recalling what had happened to him after he'd tried to tell Nora, but he knew it would be different with Jo since she had actually witnessed his death. After Jo had been discharged, Abe drove them all back to the antiques shop and they settled down in the living room with large mugs of steaming coffee. As Jo looked at Henry expectantly he took a long sip of his hot drink and took a deep breath before speaking. "Well, it's a long story..."

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I haven't entirely decided whether or not I will write a third chapter, but I think I will probably end it here. If I wrote a third chapter with Henry filling Jo in on the rest of the details about his condition and his past, I feel like I'd just be reiterating things that I've seen in a lot of other fics.


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